Draft and UDFA Thread 2018-19: Part V (Lottery 04/09 8PM EST)

[Joey Bones]

Like I said the other day, my preference wouldn’t be Dach at 5 (especially with who’s left on those mocks), but I definitely wouldn’t complain. I don’t love Leason, but if we ended up getting Caufield at 23, I’d be so happy that I wouldn’t care who else was taken with pretty much the rest of our picks

My train of thought, too. With that mock, I'd have to take Zegras or Turcotte there at No. 5. I think Caufield will go earlier than No. 23, but with the players there it's a no brainer to go Caufield. I would've taken a plethora of guys before Leason according to this mock (Dorofeyev, Bjornfot, Pelletier, Hoglander, Thomson, etc.)

 

[Ghost of jas]

As the "booby" prize? Or natural selection?

I think Turcotte is likely gone, and the Rangers will be very content to walk away with Zegras.

 

[LaffyTaffy]

I think Turcotte is likely gone, and the Rangers will be very content to walk away with Zegras.

With last night's win, this is the scenario i see going down. Will be very very happy with hit as well. Would have loved Turcotte, but Zegras is a great consolation.

 

[Joey Bones]

Right now sounds like the board would be overall thrilled to see the following in blue:

Hughes, Kakko, Byram, Cozens, Turcotte

Then some mixed reviews but overall very happy to land:

Podkohlzin, Zegras, Dach

Then more mixed feelings on:

Boldy, Caufield, Broberg

About right?

My questions are:

1. Which player in each group scares you the most?
2. Which player in each group do you think the NYR has higher than we do?
3. Who not listed could be this year's Kravtsov?

I think in the 1st group, Turcotte scares me the most only because he had a serious injury early into his career. Otherwise, I'm not worried with any of those players, including Turcotte.

The 2nd group probably all three have some concerns primarily based around "will it translate to the NHL?"

The 3rd group the only one that scares me is Broberg. Got good tools, but has lapses in judgement that raises some eyebrows.

For your 2nd question, we wouldn't know. I feel their list is very different from HF's in every draft....

For your 3rd question, Dorofeyev is and will be very similar in trajectory!!

 

[Ola]

Still, I think discussing Antti Saarela would be much more interesting and appropriate for this thread...

I am not a big Saarela fan. Don’t think the skating is there at all. Pretty stiff player for someone that is an offensive skilled forward. Some straight ahead speed and a solid wrister, but compared to the top kids out there he just don’t got much more than that.

I think his production raises some questions about the level of play in the Liiga right now...

 

[pblawr]

I am not a big Saarela fan. Don’t think the skating is there at all. Pretty stiff player for someone that is an offensive skilled forward. Some straight ahead speed and a solid wrister, but compared to the top kids out there he just don’t got much more than that.

I think his production raises some questions about the level of play in the Liiga right now...

I thought his skating looked pretty good at U18's. I believe that's Turcotte who can't catch up to him on the back check.

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

 

[Irishguy42]

We are a little more than 10 days away from the draft lottery, folks.

 

[Joey Bones]

 

[Ola]

I thought his skating looked pretty good at U18's. I believe that's Turcotte who can't catch up to him on the back check.

I have very high standards.

Seriously though, it will show more if you can find a shift by shift clip. He doesn’t come in and out of situations with the speed you want. Instead he ends up being pretty tentative.

But sure it’s picky. However somewhere it’s important to remember that if we for example look at the 2009 draft, the one 10 years ago, there are today 17 forwards with at least 250 pts in about 500-600 games. The forwards after that aren’t very impressive. Let’s say 20. The same number in 2008 is 10 and 16 in 2007.

That is kind of what you have to work with. Is Saarela a top 15-20 kid in terms of how good he will become? I just think that is very unlikely.

 

[Edge]

If Zegras garners mixed reviews on here, then people really need to go back and take a second look at the kid.

There’s a reason he’s ahead of some of the so-called “preferred choices.”

 

[Edge]

I think Turcotte is likely gone, and the Rangers will be very content to walk away with Zegras.

I think it depends.

Let’s say the Rangers pick sixth, and Podkolzin indeed goes third.

That would leave Cozens, Byram, Turcotte and Zegras all on the board - 4 players for 2 slots ahead of the Rangers. That means two of them are available when the Rangers are up. The question is which two. I really don’t know if Turcotte is a given to go higher.

The one team I can see being particularly high on him is Buffalo. But even then I’m not sure they don’t look at a guy like Cozens as more of a wing than a center for them.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

Here is my top 10:

• Hughes
• Kakko
• Byram
• Podkolzin
• Cozens
• Zegras
• Dach
• Turcotte
• Krebs
• Boldy

 

[Mac n Gs]

If Zegras garners mixed reviews on here, then people really need to go back and take a second look at the kid.

There’s a reason he’s ahead of some of the so-called “preferred choices.”

If he finds that second gear in his skating, you're looking at another kid who can just cut right through opposing teams and set up plays that he saw developing five seconds before they happened. His shot has been improving too.

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

Haven’t been keeping up with this thread much, but do we think there is any chance Byram drops to us?

A forward would be great, but right now aside from a bunch of depth we seriously lack a blue chip defenseman.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

Haven’t been keeping up with this thread much, but do we think there is any chance Byram drops to us?

A forward would be great, but right now aside from a bunch of depth we seriously lack a blue chip defenseman.

Miller is a Blue chip defenseman.

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

Miller is a Blue chip defenseman.

Completely forgot about him! Not sure how.

But still think we could use another. Miller was outstanding this year but you can still see how raw he is in many ways.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

Completely forgot about him! Not sure how.

But still think we could use another. Miller was outstanding this year but you can still see how raw he is in many ways.

I would be very happy with Byram if he was there when the Rangers picked, unless they had the #1 or #2 pick.

 

[Ola]

If Zegras garners mixed reviews on here, then people really need to go back and take a second look at the kid.

There’s a reason he’s ahead of some of the so-called “preferred choices.”

Everything must be seen in its perspective.

From the perspective if Zegras is a top 15 pick, he can be described using very positive words. From the perspective of he can become a future franchise forwards, there are certainly some legit question marks.

I think we tend to fall in love with guys that can do good/great things outside the NHL. The relation between what you can do outside the NHL and what you can do inside the NHL can be very weak. BTW, when you refer to that there is “a reason to him being ahead of some of the so-called ‘preferred choices’”, what do you mean? In what way is he ahead of anyone and which players would that be?

I think it’s pretty meaningless to try to establish some kind of consensus. Any such consensus was totally meaningless last season, at least.

 

[Edge]

Everything must be seen in its perspective.

From the perspective if Zegras is a top 15 pick, he can be described using very positive words. From the perspective of he can become a future franchise forwards, there are certainly some legit question marks.

I think we tend to fall in love with guys that can do good/great things outside the NHL. The relation between what you can do outside the NHL and what you can do inside the NHL can be very weak. BTW, when you refer to that there is “a reason to him being ahead of some of the so-called ‘preferred choices’”, what do you mean? In what way is he ahead of anyone and which players would that be?

I think it’s pretty meaningless to try to establish some kind of consensus. Any such consensus was totally meaningless last season, at least.

If you’re going to go with the first approach, then everyone outside of Hughes and Kakko is in the same boat. Because Turcotte, Cozens, etc. all have just as many question marks.

So if we want to put them in the same boat, that’s one thing. If we think there’s a difference there, I disagree.

As for being ahead of certain guys, he’s actually ahead of a guy like Turcotte on more than a few lists. He’s also ahead of some of the other names we’ve thrown around here quite frequently. That goes back to the whole concept that this board’s list is not necessarily the same as what we’re seeing abroad.

I also disagree on the consensus. While it’s not set in stone, there’s a reason you don’t see guys like Bobby Brink listed 10th, or a guy like Cozens listed 15th.

To me consensus has become one of those things that people don’t like when it tends to go against what they want. But there is some merit to it.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

I think the talent pool at the top looks like:

Hughes>Kakko>>>Podkolzin/Byram/Cozens>>Zegras/Turcotte>Dach/Krebs/Boldy

 

[LaffyTaffy]

Gorton has consistently said that we will be taking BPA, so if for some insane reason Byram is available at 6/7 i fully expect us to take him. Otherwise, either Gorton lied or our scouting staff is severely out of touch. Byram is a top-5 talent.

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

Gorton has consistently said that we will be taking BPA, so if for some insane reason Byram is available at 6/7 i fully expect us to take him. Otherwise, either Gorton lied or our scouting staff is severely out of touch. Byram is a top-5 talent.

Or their BPA is different than yours, but then we get into the argument we’ve been having around here for at least the past 2 years

 

[LaffyTaffy]

Or their BPA is different than yours, but then we get into the argument we’ve been having around here for at least the past 2 years

I am not of that crowd, I understand that they are professionals, and of course there are differences. I just think that passing on the best defenseman in the draft at 7 for the sake of taking a kid that your head coach scouted to BU would show a certain bias as opposed to a strictly analytical decision. I would love Trevor Zegras to be a Ranger, hypothetically speaking, but if he were chosen at 7 over Bowen Byram I simply cannot be convinced that it was a decision based solely off of the fact that they see him as BPA. I would not buy that. I have been extremely happy with our scouting department and the job they have done so far, but I just want to see the organization stay true to its word.